Your advice? Mealybug treatment & rehab for Slc.

[bethmarie]

When my friend Paul gave me this one, he'd been working on ridding it of mealybugs for a while, & thought they were gone. Not so. I just found and removed some from the flower and the new growth that produced it. That is the short and entire history of my experience with mealies.
The growth is dense enough on this plant that it doesn't seem possible I could find & remove them all manually. Just too many places to hide. I could use some experienced advice for this one, please.

It's in leca-- I don't know what the roots are like down in the medium, but you can see some on top are pretty desiccated. I suppose the medium will be harboring mealybugs or their eggs?

[SJF]

You have to go systemic with your insecticide

[Orchid Whisperer]

I agree with SJF. If you are serious about getting rid of the mealies, systemic is a must.

BTW, if this plant has been anywhere near your others, you should also treat them with a systemic as a prophylaxis.

Last year I had a Paphiopedilum that had persistent mealies. I could keep them knocked back with one of those dish soap & cinnamon extract solutions, but they would return. Here is what I did to finally get rid of them.

1. Remove the infested plant from the medium, carefully wash/remove as much medium as you can from the root system. Discard the potting medium. The old pot must be washed & sterilized, or it should be discarded.

2. Wash every surface of the plant (leaf tip to root tip) with at least dish soap solution, but preferably dish soap-cinnamon extract solution. Use a small soft paint brush to work the solution into nooks & crannies.

3. Wait 10 - 15 minutes. Rinse thoroughly.

4. I recommend Bayer Advanced Rose & Flower dual action spray for your systemic treatment. It contains a pyrethroid and a systemic that is the same chemical used to control fleas on dogs & cats. Spray all surfaces of the plant, including the roots.

5. Get your new potting medium ready. Rinse or soak if that is what you normally do. Then, spray the new medium with the Bayer R&F spray, mix, spray again.

6. Re-pot normally. Water as you normally would for a newly-potted plant

7. Spray the formerly-infested plant (above-ground parts and media surface) and it's neighbors with the Bayer R&F at intervals recommended on the label. Do this for at least a month to a month and a half.

This may seem like a lot of work, but it's really not much more trouble than normal re-potting, plus some extra spraying.

Your plant otherwise looks pretty healthy. Good luck with it!

[bethmarie]

Thanks for the time and energy that went into your reply, Orchid Whisperer. Step by step instructions help immensely.

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

I recommend Bayer Advanced Rose & Flower dual action spray for your systemic treatment. It contains a pyrethroid and a systemic

Could Bayer 3 in 1 be equally effective/safe? I need to treat rot in another plant, have budget constraints, and wonder if I can buy just one product to address both issues.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Bayer 3-in-1 still contains the Imidacloprid (flea control chemical), has a different pyrethroid (Tau-fluvalinate), and has a fungicide (Tebuconazole)that works on some fungal problems. It is also a good choice.

[LovePhals]

Check daily for them and use rubbing alcohol with a Q tip when you see them, it kills them instantly. It seems to take a few months to get them all with daily checks, in addition to spraying as mentioned above. I had minor infestations on two of my Noid phals I got from Lowe's and I had them in quarantine for months to rid them. I didn't put them with my other plants until I didn't see any for about 4 months.
That is a very pretty cattleya, it will be worth it!!